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Atom Bomb
Atom Bomb Anxieties: Bombs Kill People And Scare Them Too! Nuclear weaponry was first developed during World War II, when it was used on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. Throughout the Cold WarCold War, the fear of nuclear holocaust awoken by the bombings became a reoccurring theme in popular culture. This page includes some notable examples of apocalyptic literature containing atomic bombs. From 1948's Ape and Essence 1964's Dr. Strangelove to Vonnegut's 1982 speech Fates Worse Than Death , the Cold War, with its weapons of mass destruction, was the basis for many apocalyptic texts for almost half a century. Fear of mutually assured destruction of both the Soviet Union and the United States lead common people all around the world to hypothesize how the world they held so dearly would come to an end in trials of fire and chemicals. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still around today. But they also stand to testify to the horrors what could've happened to the whole world,as they did in these texts. Movies Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1964 The satire/ black comedy portrays the paranoia, stupidity, and hatred between the United States and Russia during the Cold War. Made by the famous English filmaker Stanely Kubrick, this film invovles a rogue American general making an order for planes to drop bombs in Russia. Needless to say the president and the government is not aware of this until it is too late and they desperately try to fix their fatal mistake. The stakes are raised even higher when the Russian ambassador announces that any attempt to drop bombs on Russia will set off a doomsday device, which will kill all humans and animals. Americans begin killing one another, and the general shoots himself in the head. Luckily Group Captain Mandrake is able to discover the code to dissingage, but one of the planes whose radio was damaged continues to fly on, towards its destination. The plane, not stopped, ends up dropping the bomb. Dr. Strangelove ( a former nazi) suggests that they create a society underground, with only the best genes and traits. A decision is also made to blow up the rest of the world, so that the Russians cannot destroy them once they emerge from the mines in a hundred years. Planet of the Apes 1968 This film opens with a team of astronauts landing on Earth after being in space for 700 years, almost completely unaged. They inaccurately conclude that they have only been away from Earth for about a year and a half when they wake up from their hibernation, so naturally when they touch down on Earth, now completely destroyed, they do not recognize their own home planet. The "other planet" they discovered is ruled by apes, who have civilization as well as language. The only remaining humans are completely mute, and serve as pets and servants to the apes. Throughout the movie hints are made that this "foreign" planet was not so foreign after all. At the conclusion of the movie the main character, George Taylor, is riding along a beach with Nova, and suddenly drops off of the horse onto the sand. In front of him is a demolished Statue of Liberity, and he realizes that his home, and most of humanity has been destroyed. "Oh my god. I'm back, I'm home. All the time it was...We finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!" Books Ape and Essence Aldous Huxley 1948 This novel was one of the first apocalyptic/ post-apocalyptic texts that showed the influence of the atom bomb. Published in 1948, this book was written at the end of the second World War and at the start of the Cold War. A washed-up screenwriter stumbles upon a script written by William Tallis,that depicts a world after a nuclear/biological war. It takes place after the Third World War, that only left the most remote location unscathed. In one of the first hypothetical scenes of the film "the apes' are wiped out by a bomb. When New Zealand scientists go to explore America one hundred years later, what they find is a society destroyed by mutations caused by radiation, and a religious belief based purely on the destruction and death caused by the atom bomb. Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury 1953 Ray Bradbury's novel was written during the Cold War, with the Soviet atomic bomb threat in the forefront of every mind. In a dystopian city, independent thought is nearly extinct, while books and reading are outlawed. "Firemen" burn books found, reminiscent of the Nazi book burning of the Second World War. The story focuses on fireman Guy Montag. In the end, "the enemy" flies over the city, dropping bombs that completely annihilate all they come near. Montag and his crew survive, and must begin rebuilding society. The fear of the Soviet nuclear capability set up the dramatic ending of the novel. Level Seven Mordecai Roshwald 1959 Also written in the height of the Cold War, Roshwald's Level Seven plays on the fear and threat of impending war. Unnamed soldier X-127 is locked in an underground safeguard with others who are designated as "Push Button Command" officers. If war between their country and another unnamed supercountry were to ever break out, these officers would press a series of buttons to unleash all their nuclear weaponry on the enemy, destroying the world while they stay safe. Many begin to become depressed, with the thoughts of never seeing sunlight again and being the cause of such destruction stuck in their heads. War ensues, and orders come to "push the button." Nuclear weaponry is release and the world dies in just under three hours. However, the "safe" bunkers were compromised, and X-127, the last human on Earth, slowly dies of radiation poisoning. This plays on the common fear of atomic bombs destroying everything and everyone we hold near to our hearts as America and the Soviet Union stand against each other, and the feeling that they were all stuck and waiting for the button to be pushed. Fates Worse Than Death Kurt Vonnegut 1982 Eon Greg Bear 1985 Greg Bear's 1985 Eon uses the tensions between the US and the USSR as the basis of a Sci-Fi novel set in the future (of the time). An asteroid comes into orbit near Earth, and both the Americans and the Soviets attempt to claim it for themselves. Upon exploring the asteroid, called "the Stone," an alternate universe known as "the Way" is discovered. The Way is inhabited by descendants of the creators of the Stone, coming from the future. It is made known that the Stoners created the Stone and escaped into the Way when nuclear war broke out between the US and the USSR, completely destroying the world. The Earth scientists believe that the Stone has appeared to warn them of the upcoming and unavoidable war against the Soviets, which would morph into a complete World War. This book claims that the nuclear war of the story cannot be avoided, mirroring the feelings of many of the time period. Instead of trying to stop the war, the scientists try to escape, showing the complete and utter terror the threat of nuclear war caused.